US Has Highest Maternal Death Rate Of Developed Countries

The U.S. fell two spots to 33rd overall in the most recent State of the World's Mothers 2015 report by the Save the Children organization.

By Matt Moreno | May 5, 2015

It's a scary and potentially surprising find: The U.S. ranks last among developed countries when it comes to risk of maternal death.

That's according to the State of the World's Mothers 2015 report by the Save the Children organization released Monday. The report defines maternal death as the likelihood that a woman will end up dying due to a pregnancy.

In the overall Mothers' Index Rankings from the report, the U.S. fares better, ranking 33rd out of 179 countries surveyed. The Mothers' Index Rankings take into account five things: the lifetime risk of maternal death due to pregnancy, mortality rate for children under the age of 5, formal schooling years of children, gross national income per capita and women's participation in national government.